Sarah's Boyfriend
by Artemis Day
Summary: Sarah hasn't had a boyfriend in four years. Karen keeps trying to set her up with single men. One Christmas, Sarah finds she can no longer take it and makes up a fake boyfriend. But what happens when Sarah's family wants to meet him? TwoShot SJ
1. The Problem

**A/N: I'm so exited, this is my first ever Labyrinth fanfiction, yay! Anyway, I really wanted to write a holiday story and I decided that since I had yet to write a Laby fic, this was the perfect opportunity to try it out. This was originally going to be a one-shot, but I decided to turn into a two parter instead. So here you go, enjoy the first half of "Sarah's Boyfriend"

* * *

**

Ever since I was a child, I've noticed that I have a bit of a problem with not thinking the things I say through before I say them. I can recall dozens of times when this has gotten me into trouble, but none have ever come close to the incident the one Christmas when I was twenty-three. It ended up being one of the worst nights of my life, but surprisingly, also one of the best.

I suppose I ought to start at the beginning. You see, I was never a very social child, not until my senior year when I somehow made friends with one of the most popular girls at school and began to come out of my shell a little. I got my first real boyfriend that year. His name was Niko; he was Hispanic and had big adorable brown eyes. He was one of the schools biggest heartthrobs so you better believe I got a lot of jealous looks from other girls when we made our relationship public. We lasted about six months together, until I realized that even though he was always really nice to me, there was really nothing special between us.

Next came Taylor, he wasn't exactly the best looking guy in the world but he was a lot less pigheaded than other guys in my school. He was my date to the senior prom and the first guy I ever thought I could have a lasting relationship with. Alas, fate went against us when he got accepted into his dream college…in California. We broke up shortly afterwards, last I heard from him he had gotten married and has three kids.

I had several other dates and boyfriends after that, but my longest relationship at the time began when I was around 19 years old. I met Chris at the diner I worked at when he took a job as a cashier (I was a waitress). He had brownish red hair and the cutest dimples ever. We dated on and off for about three months before officially becoming a couple. Our relationship lasted 2 ½ years, during which time I really began thinking that he was the one. But once again, fate had other plans; he ended up leaving me after reconnecting with a former girlfriend from his home town. They later married only to divorce a year later, and he ended up becoming an unemployed drunk while his ex-wife married some rich sixty year old. I can't say that I feel too bad about that.

I didn't have another date after that for four years, something that my step-mother would not accept. We hadn't been extremely close when she first married my dad, but as time went on I began to grow fond of my new step-mother and she of me. The main thing she worried about in regards of my life was that I would end up never getting married and being alone for the rest of my life. So she did the only thing she could as an overbearing step-mother: set me up on as many blind dates as possible. I went along with it for a few months just so she would stop pestering me, but after she hooked me up with one of her co-workers exterminator son, I began to put my foot down.

Every time she tried to set me up with someone from then on I would come up with various excuses to get out of it. It wasn't that I wanted to stay single forever, I just wanted to be the one to choose who I would spend the rest of my life with and not my step-mother.

Of course, both times I thought I was in love with a guy it turned out sour but that didn't mean I would never find someone right?

As time went on I began to realize that it really wasn't just my ex-boyfriends faults that our relationships didn't work out. Part of the fault lye with me, and the fact that even though I hate to admit it, sometimes when I was kissing them, I would find myself imagining they were someone else. Someone with long blond hair and mismatched eyes…

Anyway, I'm sure you're all wondering by now what this has to do with what I said earlier about not thinking before I speak, but this really has everything to do with it, because if none of this stuff ever happened, than the events of that one Christmas Day might not have either.

It all began around noon that day. I was in my closet trying to pick out a good outfit to wear. So far I wasn't having much luck. I finally settled on a dark green blouse with a knee length skirt. I still had about three hours before I would be heading to my old house where Dad and Karen host lavish Christmas parties every year for us and our extended family. I was looking forward to the large Christmas dinner we always had and seeing my little brother (I had become a moderately successful stage actress which meant a lot of long work hours that kept me from seeing him as often as I would like), but I was not particularly looking forward to seeing Karen.

Don't get me wrong, I cared about her very much, it's just that this is the time of year when she tries to play 'love doctor' for me the most. I can't tell you how many times she invited men around my age to parties and tried to get me talking to them. I always managed to avoid them much to Karen annoyance, but this would only encourage her to try harder.

Anyway, I plopped down on the couch and grabbed the TV remote, figuring I'd just watch a movie or something until it was time to go. I had flipped through about ten channels playing nothing but overly sweet made for TV Christmas movies when I finally settled on a channel showing 'Die Hard' (Hey, it takes place during Christmastime right?).

It had just gotten to the part when the bad guys blow the roof up when I heard the kitchen phone ring. Sighing, I got up and stretched my arms out a bit before walking into the medium sized kitchen and answering the phone.

"Hello?"

"Sarah? It's Karen." Said the voice on the other end.

I wasn't surprised; in fact I should have been expecting this. Karen always gives me a call around this time on Christmas, usually just to hint to me that she had invited yet another of her friend's sons to the party for me to meet.

"Hi Karen, Merry Christmas." I greeted her trying to sound cheerful.

"Merry Christmas to you too sweetie, you are still coming to the party right?"

'_Are you going to try and set me up yet again?'_ "Of course I am Karen; I wouldn't miss it for anything."

"Wonderful!" Karen said happily.

"Why do you ask?" I ask.

'_Hear it comes.' _

"Well, I'm sure you remember the Davis's from down the street right?" She asked.

"Yeah," I answered slowly.

"Well, they just told me that their son is coming home to celebrate Christmas with them, I'm sure you remember Kevin."

I froze. My eyes closed as I covered the receiver with my hand so Karen wouldn't hear me let out a long groan. Of all the guys in the world she could try to match me with, Kevin Davis? What was she thinking? Not only did Kevin have the face of the rat, he was the biggest asshole I had ever met in my life. I suppose that this was just a sign that she was becoming desperate, but surely she got do better than Kevin Davis!

"Well anyway," I heard her continue when I brought the receiver back to my ear, "I was thinking of asking him to stop by here, since you haven't seen him since high school, I'm sure you'll have a lot of catching up to do."

Catch up with Kevin 'Ratface' Davis? I don't think so. Now it was my turn to be desperate, there no way I was going to deal with another blind date. I had to say something, anything to get out of this. So I said the first thing that came to my mind, and now you will see an example of my mind and my mouth betraying me.

"Well actually, I have a boyfriend now."

I began inwardly freaking out the moment the words rolled of my tongue, while Karen let out a very audible gasp of happiness.

"_You do?" _She asked loudly, "Since when?"

I was really nervous now, I knew that now that I had said it, I would have to go along with it. So I just made something up.

"Oh, a few months." I said trying to suppress my nervousness.

"Oh Sarah I'm so happy to hear that," Karen said sounding very excited, I couldn't really blame her after four years of trying to get me back into the dating world, "So what's his name?"

I froze again. _'Oh crap'_.

"H-his name?" I stuttered.

"Yes dear his name, surely you know your own boyfriend's name." Karen answered with a slightly joking tone.

I forced out a weak laugh. "O-of course I know his name, it's…"

I had to think fast, just pick a name off the top of my head. Suddenly a pair of eyes, one green and one blue, evaded my mind and I once again lost control of my mouth.

"His name's Jareth."

Now there are so many male names out there a lot more common than that one, which leads me to wonder why I couldn't have just made one up, but instead, I have to go and blab out the name of the man who had evaded my thoughts almost daily.

"Jareth," Karen repeated slowly, "How exotic, is he foreign."

"Erm…you could say that." I answered, wondering what she would think if she knew just _how _foreign.

"Well, that's great Sarah, I'm so glad you finally found someone." Karen said.

"Uh huh." I answered softly, looking forward to the end of this conversation, until Karen's next comment made the entire situation ten times worse.

"Well, I have to go now but I can't wait to she you two tonight."

My stomach dropped and the phone almost did too. Did she just say 'you _two?_'

"Wait what?" I asked quickly before she could hang up.

"Well, Jareth is coming with you right? I mean, he is your boyfriend, eventually you'll have to introduce us to him." Karen said in an obvious tone.

"Oh well un…" I tried to think of something to say to get me out of this, but I had nothing.

"Anyway, I have to go now, I'll see you and Jareth tonight, love you." Karen said as she hung up the phone.

"Karen wait I-" But it was too late.

"Damn it." I cursed loudly.

I put the phone down and sat back down on the couch. I had a huge problem now. How could I have been so stupid? Why did I tell her that Jareth of all people was my boyfriend? Not only had he kidnapped my brother, he was arrogant jackass who only cared about himself. Not to mention the fact that he shouldn't even exist in the first place. _'Well he is kind of good-looking' _I thought to myself, then images of his blond hair, his mismatched eyes, his too-tight breeches, and that annoying yet seductive smirk he often had worn flashed across my mind, _'Okay, __**very **__good looking. But still, why did it have to be him?'_

I knew there was no getting out of this. I couldn't call Karen back now, the damage had been done, and there was only one option. I really wished I had another one though, because not only did I not want to do this, I wasn't even sure it would work. But I needed help, and he was the only one who could give it now.

I really wasn't sure how to call him. Whenever I wanted to talk to Hoggle or one of my other friends from the Labyrinth, I would just say their name out loud and they would come to me, maybe if I called out his name, than he would come to me too. It didn't seem very likely that it would work, but it was the only thing I could think of.

I stood up and moved to the center of the room. I took a deep breath and prayed this would work. "Jareth?" I called out.

I waited a few seconds, nothing happened. I looked but I saw nothing, no owls or anything. I was about to give up when I begrudgingly figure I ought to try again.

"Jareth, I need you." I called out, this time much louder and firmer.

Again, I got nothing. Sighing, I turned back to the couch…and let out an ear-piercing scream.

There, sitting on my couch with his legs propped up against the coffee table, was the Goblin King. He looked exactly like I remembered him down to the annoying smirk. His arms where crossed over his chest and he looked like he was about to laugh when I fell to the floor in shock.

"You…you." I tried to get out, but the shock was still wearing off so I really couldn't say much of anything.

"It's very nice to see you to Sarah," He said grinning as his eyes ravaged my body, "You've changed quite a bit it seems."

His tone bothered me, but I brushed that aside, right now I needed him to help me and I doubted he would if I snapped at him like that.

"You haven't." I stated simply.

"One of the perks of immortality." Jareth answered cheerfully getting up off the couch, "Now then my dear, can I ask why you called me after all this time?"

Truthfully, I was kind of dreading this part. I mean, I'm the one who defeated his precious Labyrinth and rejected him all at once; surely he hated me for that. The fact that he had answered my call at all didn't cease to amaze me.

I took a deep breath, "Well, it's like this…"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, I had told Jareth the whole story. I told him about my three steady relationships and how Karen had been hooking me up with various stiffs for the last few years, and then I reluctantly told him of the phone conversation I had had with Karen just a few minutes ago. He was actually a very good listener and didn't interrupt me once during my whole story.

"Hmmm…" He muttered when I had finished, "So now, you want me to go with you to your family's party and pretend to be your boyfriend."

"Right," I answered nodding my head.

"Hmmm…" He said again, "Well tell me, why should I help you, what have you ever done for me other than refuse me and defeat my Labyrinth?"

I can't say I wasn't expecting this, but I was kind of hoping that wouldn't happen. He didn't wait for me to answer; he simply got up and walked past me examining various object I had lying around.

"Look, I know I've never done anything to help you but come on, it's only for one night, and then you never have to see me again." I pleaded.

"Uh huh." He said while looking at a framed photo of me and Toby from two years ago.

"Look, what do you want from me? Do you want me to get down on my knees and beg?" I asked exasperatedly.

He turned around to face my with a grin, "You know it's funny you should say that because I've sometimes imagined you down on your knees in front of me but it was never to beg."

For the first time since he arrived, anger began to surge through me, "You son of a-"

"Now Sarah," He interrupted me rather loudly, "You should be careful what you say to me or I might reconsider helping you."

It took me a few seconds to fully understand what he had said and when I did, my anger was replaced by shock. "Wait, you're going to help me?"

"That's what I said is it not?"

I was so relieved I almost (_almost_) hugged him, instead I breathed a long sigh of relief. Maybe I could actually pull this off now. I noticed however, that we were going to have to do something about Jareth's appearance if this was going to work.

"Okay well, you're going to have to change your outfit." I said.

He frowned, "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

I looked at his knee high boots, tight breeches, and white poet's shirt. "Well, for starters, people aboveground stopped dressing like that two hundred years ago."

Jareth rolled his eyes at me before conjuring a crystal and dropping it to the ground at his feet. He was then engulfed in the cloud of smoke and when it faded, he was dressed in a pair of jeans, a black shirt and a leather jacket. I had to admit he looked pretty good in human clothes. _'He looks good in anything.' _said the annoying little voice in my head.

"Better?" He asked in monotone.

"Yeah," I said, before noticing that his hair was still exactly the same, "Wait, your hair too, you have to change."

I could tell that he was becoming annoyed, "Why?"

"Because, if they see you looking like this they're going to think you're in a gang or something okay? Now just change it."

He then proceeding to magically shorten his hair so it was no longer so big or so long, not down to his shoulders. That satisfied me.

"Okay good." I said more to myself then to him, "I turned toward the wall clock in the kitchen and saw that I had an hour and a half left to get ready.

"Right well, I going to go get dressed, just stay here alright?" I told him.

"As you wish darling." He answered cheerfully.

I stopped and raised my eyebrows to him.

"What? We're supposed to be dating aren't we?" He shrugged.

I just rolled my eyes, _'This is going to be a long night'_


	2. The Solution

We didn't talk much in the car, at least not to each other. All the way there Jareth would stare out the car window and make offhand comments about the Christmas display certain people had in front of their houses.

"…Why do they have all those doll things in front of their houses? It looks ridiculous."

"All those lights on, it's amazing they sleep at night…"

"This whole Holiday of yours is pointless"

I just stayed quiet the whole way and let him continue talking; I was really just hoping he didn't talk like that in front of my family.

'_I could just tell them he's Jewish.' _I thought briefly with a smile.

We arrived at my old house at around ten to three, which made us ten minutes early. The house had all the classic decorations; lights, plastic Santa Claus with the reindeer, and a festive Christmas wreath on the front door. There were a bunch of unfamiliar cars parked in the driveway and the street, so I figured my extended family must have arrived. Before getting out of the car, I figured I'd better explain some things to him.

"Okay look," I began, "If we're going to pull this off then you can't let anyone know you don't know what Christmas is or my family might start to suspect something is up, so just try to stay in the loop."

He smiled, "I'll do my best love."

I rolled my eyes, "Will you quit doing that?"

He grinned now, "But darling, if we're suppose to be together, it's only right that I have a pet name for you."

'_This is going to be a really, __**really **__long night.'_

As we walked closer to the door I could hear voices coming from inside, I recognized Karen right away, she was talking to a woman who I'm pretty sure was my grandma. I also heard Toby shouting something about football, so I figured he had gotten that football autographed by John Elway he had wanted so bad (how Dad and Karen managed to get it, I'll never know.) Once we reached the top step of the porch, I rang the doorbell and waited fro someone to answer. While we were waiting, Jareth, to my annoyance, grabbed my by the shoulder and pulled me much closer to him than I would have liked to be.

I froze for a few seconds, "Jareth, what are you doing?" I asked once I regained myself.

He smirked down at me, which made me inadvertently shiver with excitement (And then mentally berate myself for it). "As I've told you before, we're suppose to be dating, I'm just playing the part."

I could tell he was enjoying this, this pissed me off a lot, but even though I would never have admitted this at the time, a small part of me was glad he was.

Finally, the door opened. The person who answered was a very familiar eight year old with blond hair and big blue eyes. He grinned widely when he saw me.

"Sarah!" He yelled while hugging me around the waist, "You're here!"

I laughed, "It's great to see you too Toby."

When he finally let go, his gaze fell on Jareth and he raised an eyebrow, "Who's this?"

I was about to answer but Jareth beat me to it, "Hello there Toby," He said cheerfully while bending down to reach Toby's level, "My name is Jareth, it's nice to finally meet you."

Toby looked like he was going to respond when another familiar voice rang out, "Toby honey what are you doing? Let them in out of the cold."

The woman who walked forward was in her mid-forties; her hair has pulled back into a bun and was wearing a bright red dress. She gathered me into a big hug once she approached me.

"It's good to see you too Karen." I said while hugging her back.

Once she pulled away, I figured I'd better just introduce her to my 'boyfriend' now before she began asking questions, so I silently beckoned Jareth over.

"Karen," I began once he was next to me, "I'd like you to meet my…boyfriend, Jareth."

She let out a small gasp when she looked up at Jareth's smiling face.

"It's wonderful to finally meet you," He said cheerfully while taking her hand in his and kissing it, "Sarah's told me quite a bit about you and your family."

She let out a very loud giggle before catching herself. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Following this was a small silence until Karen spoke again.

"Well, come on you too, the rest of the family is just dying to meet you Jareth."

As we heading toward the kitchen, Karen suddenly pulled me aside, "Sarah I can't believe you got a guy like _that." _

I inwardly wondered the same thing, "What do you mean?"

She looked at me like I was crazy (which I probably was for actually bringing the freaking Goblin King to meet my parents), "Well, he's absolutely gorgeous for one thing, where on earth did you meet him?"

I really wished she'd stop asking me these question, _"Well actually Karen, Jareth is actually a king, Goblin King to be exact. He comes from underground and he's immortal with magical powers. I met him when I wished for him to take Toby away forever a couple of years ago."_

Hello asylum.

Luckily, I managed to come up with a good cover, "He…he went to one of my shows and came backstage afterwards to congratulate me on my performance, we got to talking and sorta just…clicked."

Karen accepted that explanation despite the fact that I was probably so nervous I was sweating, luckily, Karen can be very gullible. I was about to walked past her when she once again grabbed me.

"What?" I asked not hiding my annoyance.

"What is he doing to the tree?" She asked.

"Wha-?" I looked up and my eyes widen when I saw Jareth over by the tree touching all the branches and ornaments, it almost looked like he was trying to make it fall over.

"Oh shit." I hissed as I ran over to stop him, when I reached him I pulled him away from the tree before it fell.

"What are you doing?" He sputtered sounding somewhat upset.

"I should be asking you the same question, why were you trying to destroy the tree?" I snapped back as softly as I could so no one would hear me.

"I wasn't," he protested, "I was just trying to figure out why you have a tree in the house."

"Well you could have just asked me." I argued.

"Alright, why is there a tree in the house?" He asked.

I sighed loudly, "It's a Christmas tree, people put them in there living rooms and decorate them, then on Christmas Eve all the presents are put under the tree and opened the next day." I explained, "Understand?"

He looked from me, to the tree, then back to me and nodded, "So it's tradition then."

"Yeah, it's tradition." I confirmed, "Now come on, lets go"

I took him gently by the arm and pulled him away from the tree towards the door Karen had just gone through.

When we entered the kitchen, I saw that my Uncle David and my Aunt Carla were sitting at the kitchen table sipping there drinks and laughing at a joke my Uncle Ned had just got through telling them. My cousin Lizzie was leaning against the wall talking on the phone while her sister, my cousin Jo was listening to Toby go on about all the presents he had gotten (she was always very fond of Toby).

Everyone was very happy to see me and almost every one of my female relatives as well as Uncle Ned (he's gay) congratulated me on finding someone as (as they put it) 'hot' as Jareth, when it came their turn to give me a hug. I sincerely hoped Jareth didn't hear any of them, the last thing someone like him needed was a further ego boost.

Once I had greeted all my relatives, I noticed something which confused me somewhat; my father was nowhere to be found. I was about to ask Karen where he was when I heard the front door open and shut, and a familiar male voice call out.

"I'm back."

"We're in here Robert," Karen responded, "Come on and meet Sarah's boyfriend."

Once he was in sight, I gave my dad a big hug and kiss, "Merry Christmas Daddy."

"Merry Christmas to you too honey," Dad answered before giving me a kiss on the cheek, "Now what's this about a boyfriend?"

"That would be me sir," Jareth piped up while walking over to us, "Name's Jareth, Jareth King."

My dad stared at Jareth for a minute, then at me, then back at Jareth. I was starting to get a little uneasy, why wasn't he saying anything?

Finally, he stiffly raised his hand to shake Jareth's and said: "It's very nice to meet you."

Jareth smiled and grasped my dad's hand in his, "It's nice to meet you to sir."

"Um…I hope you don't mind me asking," Dad began.

'_Uh oh'_

"How old are you?" He finished.

"How old am I?" Jareth repeated, "972 years sir."

My jaw dropped, was he trying on purpose to screw this up? But then my dad did something I never would have expected; he laughed.

"972? Right, that's a good one." He said between laughs.

I was so relieved I momentarily stopped caring that Jareth had almost blown our cover. But I knew I was going to have a talk with him later about this.

"B-but really, how old are you?" Dad asked again once his laughter subdued.

"I'm 31." Jareth lied with ease.

"31?" Dad asked, "That would make you quite a bit older than Sarah here."

Same old overprotective dad, thinking quickly, I moved in between them and faced my father.

"N-now daddy, I'm 23 years old, I think I'm old enough to decide for myself who I want to be with."

"That's right Robert," Karen stated as she walked towards, "She's old enough to decide for herself."

I wanted tell her how interesting that sounded coming from someone would had put me on enough blind dates to bankrupt eHarmony, but instead I just smiled gratefully at her.

* * *

Dinner on Christmas Day was never a very quiet affair in our house. This year was no different. I was sitting between Jareth and Uncle Ned while my dad sat on the opposite end of the table. Every now and then he would look up at us for a fleeting moment before staring down at his plate again. I could tell that even though he did not dislike Jareth, he was still very wary of him due to our 'age difference'.

I had struck up a conversation with Uncle Ned about work. He also did some stage work but as a set designer, so we always had a lot to talk about. The only people not speaking were Jareth and Toby. I sat to Jareth's left, and on his right was Toby, who I noticed had been staring at Jareth for at least ten minutes, and as time went on this made me more and more nervous.

'_Oh god he knows, he knows' _I was thinking irrationally; because really, how could an eight year old boy figure it out when an adult couldn't?

Jareth seemed to have noticed as well because it looked like he was getting a bit tense. Finally he put his fork down and sharply turned his head to face Toby, who immediately looked away.

"Is everything alright Toby?" He asked calmly.

"Fine." Toby muttered so quickly I almost didn't catch it.

"Then can I asked why you were staring at me?"

Toby looked over at me, as if asking for help, I just smiled inwardly becoming nervous again. He turned his gaze back to Jareth, "Well, it's just that…you look kind of familiar and I, I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."

I almost choked on my diet soda. But Jareth only chuckled, "Well maybe you have."

He then turned his attention back to his meal while Toby watched him, looking very confused now.

"So Jareth," My father addressed him suddenly, "Tell us, what do you do for a living?"

It's like the whole world was against me today. But once again, Jareth handled the situation very well.

"I own my own business." He answered.

Dad and Uncle David both nodded, "Sounds interesting, good money?"

"Very." Jareth answered with a grin, "I quite enjoy my job, sometimes it feels like having my own kingdom."

That pretty much broke the ice, my Dad and Uncle spent the next hour or so chatting with Jareth and work and other things as well. It amazed me how well Jareth got on with my family but I was very happy that this whole thing was working out.

Once everyone had finished eating, Karen stood up to announce that it was time to open presents. The way we did this was every year on Thanksgiving; we have 'Secret Santa'. Everyone writes down their names on a piece of paper and puts it in a hat, then we all pick out a slip of paper and whoever's name is written on it, we buy that person a present. This year I had gotten Uncle David, I brought him a set of fancy looking pens with his name written on them.

As I opened my present which was from Aunt Clara, Jareth leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"Is this another tradition?" He asked.

"Of course, why else would we be doing it?" I answered.

The gift from Aunt Clara ended up being a very nice winter coat made of cotton and was a very nice shade red with a faux fur trim. Since I was so busy admiring it, I failed to notice Jareth inconspicuously conjure a small crystal. Once all the gifts had been exchanged we decided to head back to the dining room for dessert. But then, a loud 'ahem' made us all turn our attention to my 'boyfriend'.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," He began; I noticed that he had his hand behind his back. "But there is still one more gift to give out."

A smattering of mutters waved across my relatives and all I could do was wonder just what he was doing. Then from behind his back he pulled a long velvet box with a ribbon tied around it.

"This is for you my dear." He said and held in out in front of me.

I stood there for a minute not moving, wondering just what he was doing. Then I felt Karen give me a little nudge. Slowly, I reached out and took the box from him not once taking my eyes of his. I couldn't see anything in his eyes that made me think he was being insincere or playing a joke on me, so I carefully removed the ribbon and opened the box. I and every other female close enough to see the boxes contents gasped.

Inside was a white gold crossover heart pendant lined with small diamond. My breath caught in my throat while Karen, my Aunt and cousins all admired it.

"I take it that you are satisfied with it then?" Jareth said as more of a statement.

I didn't trust my mouth this time so I simply nodded. He smiled somewhat arrogantly.

"My Sarah that is quite a beautiful necklace." Aunt Clara commented.

"I'll say," Said Karen, "Well, let's go and have dessert now."

My aunt and cousins all headed back into the dining room followed by Karen. But before fully walking by me, she casually leaned over and in my ear whispered, "Marry him."

I almost choked on my own spit. I could have died of embarrassment right there, _'Please don't let him have heard that, please don't let him have heard that.' _I silently prayed, but judging by the smirk he was now wearing, he had.

This was not turning out to be the Christmas I had in mind, but then again how could it be with Jareth the Goblin King around. At least he was playing along with everything, if not somewhat overdoing it. What happened next changed everything, not only how my day was going, but how I felt about him.

"Why did you do that?" I asked him as we walked slowly toward the dining room.

"Do what? Give you the necklace?" He asked even though he knew the answer already, "I was simply playing the-"

"Don't give me that again." I snapped moving in front of him, "The pet names I'll accept but you just gave me a _diamond necklace, _that's not 'playing the part' as you call it."

My outburst did not faze him and he simply moved past me. I caught up with him in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room.

"Tell me then," he started once I was next to him, "What would you call it?"

"What would I call it? I call it-"

Just what I would call it I was never able to tell him, for I was interrupted by a series of 'ooo's from various members of my family. I stared at them feeling very confused until I noticed Lizzie pointing at something above me. Looking up, my cheeks flushed when I saw it: Mistletoe. Perfect.

"Uh oh, you guys are standing under the mistletoe," Jo said in a sing song voice, "You know what that means."

"What does that mean?" Jareth asked through his teeth.

"Nothing let's just move." I said quickly and started to walk forward.

"Uh uh Sarah." Karen called out, "You two are under the mistletoe, there has to be a kiss."

"Kiss?" Jareth repeated, a strange look appearing in his eyes.

I sighed with annoyance, "Yes, when two people stand under the mistletoe they have to kiss."

Jareth grinned, "Now this tradition I like."

"Come on you two, its Christmas law." Uncle Ned teased.

I knew there was no getting out of this (Like my family or Jareth would let me), so I figured that I'd better just get it over with. I went to give Jareth a quick peck on the lips, but he had other ideas. As soon my our lips touched he wrapped his arms around my back and refused to let go, while in the background I could vaguely hear cheers and wolf-whistles (as well as a gagging noise, probably from Toby.). It must have been at least fifteen seconds before we finally broke apart, but kissing him felt…nice. Very nice in fact. It had been so long since I had been kissed, but from what I remembered, this was different than any kiss I had ever received.

When he finally let me go, I couldn't stop staring at him. He was wearing a very satisfied smirk that would have any other time annoyed me to the point of wanting to slap him, but this time, I found myself thinking that he looked very sexy when he did that.

* * *

As the night dragged on it was clear to all of us that Toby was becoming tired. Finally at nine thirty, Karen insisted that he go to bed. Toby protested of course, until Jareth offered to tell him a story. This stopped all the protests (Toby had taken a liking to Jareth much to my surprise) and he eagerly ran upstairs with Jareth behind him.

Once they were gone Aunt Clara addressed me, "Sarah you are so lucky."

I forced a smile, "So I've heard."

"I mean it, he's so sweet and handsome, and that necklace he gave you? I can't remember the last time David has given me anything like that."

I was probably the only one to see Uncle David shot his wife an annoyed glare.

"My mom's right Sarah, I wish I had a boyfriend like that." Lizzie sighed.

"He is very smart." Uncle David commented.

"He is, and Sarah," Dad said to me directly, "I know I may have been a bit stiff towards Jareth before, but I cal tell that he is a good man and I'm very happy you found him."

Throughout all this I was waiting for something to jolt me awake, because this has to be a dream. My family actually liked Jareth. Jareth the evil child kidnapping goblin king who put me through the worst thirteen hours of my life (Of course they didn't know about that but still.)!

"um…" I tried to think of an excuse to leave, "I have to go find Jareth."

I heard Lizzie and Jo exchange 'ooo's again (that was getting irritating).

As I headed up the stairs and towards Toby's room, I could hear the sound of Jareth speaking very softly. I was about to reach out and grab the door handle when suddenly, the door opened and Jareth stood before. I let out a small gasp for shock to which Jareth brought his finger up to his lips and made a 'ssh' sound.

"He just fell asleep."

I slowly moved past him and opened Toby's door a crack to look inside, and saw him sleeping peacefully. Once I had closed the door, I turned back around to find he hadn't moved from his spot. There was an awkward silence that I really wanted to break.

"You told him a story then?" I asked.

He simply nodded.

"Which?" I asked, although I had a feeling I knew what the answer would be.

"The one about the beautiful girl and the Goblin King who fell in love her." He answered a bit stiffly.

My eyes dropped towards the floor. "The whole story?"

"Yes," He answered, "Well…actually, I did change a few things."

I looked back up at him now, "What things?"

He looked around for a second as if trying to find way to avoid answering, "The end of the story." He said finally.

In retrospect I probably should have expected that but I still somewhat surprised by his answer, and curious. "How did you end it?"

He stared right into my eyes now, his mismatched eyes boring into my green ones, "I told him…I told him that the beautiful girl stayed with the Goblin King in the end."

I closed my eyes for a moment, and when I opened them again, I asked: "Why did you do that?"

His expressions was one of sadness and perhaps even a hint of regret, I couldn't help but feel a little sad as I gazed at him.

"I suppose," He began softly, "it's because that's how I wish the story had ended."

With that he moved past me and headed down the stairs, leaving me alone to think. I knew he had meant that. I could hear the sincerity in his voice, and I could see it in his eyes. I couldn't believe he felt like that. I remembered that necklace he had given me, it was so beautiful, could he have honestly been trying to be nice to me by giving it to me? Was it really not just part of the act?

And then that kiss, I enjoyed that kiss; that was undeniable. At the time I would have felt horrible for it, I mean, Jareth was evil right? Wasn't he?

The more I thought the more regret I felt, and the more I found myself beginning to wish the story had ended that way too.

* * *

The ride home was almost exactly like the ride there. Only this time Jareth didn't make any comments about peoples decorations. He just stared out the window in silence, and I in turn just concentrated on the road.

When we walked into my apartment, the first thing Jareth did was magically change back into his 'king' outfit, complete with the big hairdo I remembered. I desperately wanted to say something to him, but I couldn't think of anything good, so I simply said:

"Thanks for helping me tonight."

He regarded me silently for a moment, "It was actually not that bad, you have a very nice family."

"Thanks," I answered, happy that he was talking to me again, "My family loved you."

He smiled, "Are you surprised?"

"Kind of." I answered honestly.

"You shouldn't be Sarah, everyone loves me." He stated.

It might sound a bit odd, but that made me smile. This was definitely the arrogant Goblin King I had come to know.

"Well I must be heading back now." He said and my heart dropped a little.

"Alright well," I began once again not sure what to say, "It was nice seeing you again."

He raised his eyebrows, "Was it?"

I knew the answer; I just wasn't sure about saying it. But I did in the end, "Yeah."

He didn't not moved or say anything, so I figured he wasn't going to. I turned around and headed towards my bedroom, fully expecting him to leave as soon as I turned my head. But then I heard his voice again.

"Oh Sarah?" He called out in a sing song voice.

I turned around to see what he wanted and almost jumped back when I saw that he had gone from being across the room to right in front of me, his face only inches away from mine. I wanted to back up a little, back he had me up against the wall; there was no escape. He stared into my eyes for a moment and then almost casually glanced upwards. He let out a fake gasp, "Oh my, what is that?" He pointed directly above us.

I looked up and became only a little bit irritated when I saw mistletoe hovering in the air above us.

"Jareth," I began to say, but before I could he wrapped his arms around me as he had earlier and pulled me even closer to him, so close I could feel his breath on my face.

"Now Sarah," he whispered huskily, "Don't forget, its tradition."

And then his lips met mine for the second time that night, and like the first, I found myself enjoying it and then responding. It was probably the best kiss I had ever received, and I was not afraid to admit it. When he finally pulled away I felt like I was on fire. My thoughts were running rapid in my mind and I could only think of one way to respond to that, I pulled him back down and kissed him again. He had been a bit surprised when I did that and opened his mouth, something I took full advantage of.

We eventually ended up lying on my bed, never once did we break the kiss, but finally we had to come up for air. As I lay their panting slightly, I realized that I was happy, happier than I had been all day. I was sure now that Jareth had been sincere about everything, the necklace, the kiss, and the story. I knew now that he really did care about me, and it was then that I realized that I cared about him too.

"You know," I said after catching my breath, "Now that my family has met you, they'll expect you to be there for our New Year's celebration."

He looked at me and chuckled happily. "Well I would hate to disappoint them." He said before pulling me into another kiss.

THE END

* * *

**A/N: Merry Christmas Everybody!**


End file.
